Letters From War
by NeverLetThemTakeYouAlive
Summary: One-Shot based on the song 'Letters From War' by Mark Shultz, with a bit of epilogue thrown in. May be turned into a full story of Jasper's life after the war. AU/AH


_**This is a one-shot based loosely on the song 'Letters From War' by Mark Schultz. It has the song part, then some extra stuff that I added in especially for you. **___

**2009 **

It was Thursday in the middle of June. My son Jasper had gone off to war a week earlier, and he promised to send me a letter as soon as he was settled. It was warm out and I ran out to the mailbox as soon as I heard the postman flip the red flag up. Bills, bills, dead great-great-aunt. I got to the end and all hope was almost lost, when I found an envelope addressed to me. On the back was the name Jasper Hale, with the address for his base camp.

He wasn't an actual son, he was my adopted son, and we chose to let him keep his original last name, so that if he wanted to when he was older, he could track down his birth parents. He said that he was happy with us and didn't feel the need to track down his birth parents.

I opened up the letter and read it.

_Mom,_

_I wrote to you as soon as I could._ _The weather here is so hot, it's stifling. I don't know how I'm going to survive it._

_I made some new friends. Edward Masen and Emmett McCarty. Emmett likes pranking people and is really funny, even though his looks are intimidating. He's really just like a big teddy bear though, he's nice to everyone. Edward is a bit quieter. We're currently both writing to our loved ones. He's writing to his girlfriend, Bella. He told me that he's going to propose to her as soon as he gets home to her. He's even got a ring and everything. _

_There's also a nice girl in the infirmary. Her name is Alice Brandon. She's barely five foot and I like to tease her about that. She's like the energizer bunny. I've never met anyone else like her. Most of the days that we don't have to go out to fight we usually just hang around with Alice in the infirmary. She's a fun person to be around. I think that she's the one mom._

_I've also been thinking about dad. His life is the reason I'm here today. If it weren't for him treating me at the hospital that day and bringing me home, I wouldn't have the loving family that I'm with today. I wouldn't be out here, surrounded by great people whom I've only known for a day or two. I've come to love them as family._

_You are what I'm fighting for,_

_Love Jasper _

I picked up my pen and ignored the tears running down my face.

_Dear Jasper,_

_You're good and you're brave. Someday, you'll be a good father. Just promise me that you'll make it home safe. That's all I want you to do for me._

_Lots of love, Mom._

I gathered up a few pictures of us all that I'd printed off recently and I put them in an envelope as well as his letter. He needed some pictures to remember us of. I wrote the address on the envelope as well as the return address on the back and I went down to the post office to send it to him.

It was December 20th. I was hoping that Jasper could make it home for Christmas. It was possible.

The postman flipped our red flag up and I ran out to get the mail. There was a letter addressed to me. It was in the standard army envelope, coarse and yellow. But it didn't look like Jasper's handwriting. I opened it straight away, hoping that he was still safe.

_Dear Esme,_

_I was up on a hill, all alone. A shotgun rang out and there was bombs exploding all around. Then Jasper came back and saved me, although he was captured. He told me to write you and I swore to. I'm sorry. All of us here at the camp pray that he's alive. We pray for him every night and the people that were close to him light candles for him. He's the only one we've lost so far, and it's been hard on everyone. We are all deeply grateful for having known Jasper, even if it was only for a short time. We're sorry._

_Regards, Edward Masen._

The tears stained the paper and I wrote a reply, similar to what I wrote to Jasper all of the time.

_Dear Edward,_

_You're a good man, your brave just like Jasper. He told me that you have a girl back home, and I hope that one day you'll be a good father to her children. Promise me that you'll make it home safe to her to make her happy._

_Sincerely, Esme Cullen_

Every night I prayed for Jasper. I prayed that he was alive and safe, and that he'd come home one day. I continued writing my standard letter to him, making him know that I wasn't giving up on him.

**2011**

It was October, almost two years since Edward wrote to me, telling me of Jasper's capture. The autumn leaves were falling on the ground, making it a beautiful scene.

We had a small memorial service for Jasper a few months ago, as we all assumed that he had died in the war, seeing as he hadn't replied to any of my letters in the past two years. It was quite the event, there was a plaque for him at the war memorial and his friends from the war came here to remember him. Emmett McCarty, Edward Masen and his girlfriend Bella, Alice Brandon whom Jasper had told me about, and a surprise guest had shown up.

Rosalie Hale was present at the memorial service, uninvited but not unwanted. She spoke about her memories of Jasper in her early childhood, as she was several years older than Jasper. Emmett and Edward spoke of their war memories, while Carlisle and I spoke of our fondest memories of him.

Alice was quite emotional, apparently she and Jasper had become quite close and they both had feelings for each other. I knew that Jasper was falling for her and was a good friend to her, but I hadn't known that their feelings for each other were this intense. She was distraught the whole time at merely the thought of Jasper not returning home, let alone the extreme possibility of him being dead.

Rosalie approached us afterwards, thanking us for allowing her to stay and speak about her lost brother. She gave us her number and told us to contact her often. We agreed and she left quickly.

So now it's back to October. I was washing the dishes when a black car pulled up in the driveway. I was fearing that it was the army services, telling us that they'd found Jasper's body, dead and mangled on a battlefield far away from where he was stationed. A young man got out and I hoped for the best. My hand flew to my mouth as soon as I saw the tousled, blonde locks that I used to spend every night brushing.

I dried my hands and raced out the front door as Jasper retrieved his bags from the trunk of the black car. He looked up at me, but stayed where he was. I fell to my knees as I took in the sight of my precious boy, alive and healthy. He seemed to be radiating, with no injuries present,

"I'm following the captain's orders. He told me to come home to you. I got all of your letters and I'm home for good this time. I'm not going back and neither are any of my friends." I barely heard what he was saying; the only thing that registered with me was that he was home to stay. He dropped his bags to the ground and raced forward to embrace me. I held him close to my body, inhaling his sweet scent, feeling whole again.

When we had both finally made it inside, I remembered something. I grabbed the small piece of paper that was pinned to the corkboard and dialled the number that she'd told me to call during day hours. I waited for someone to pick up. It was an office number, so I had to ask for the person I wanted.

"Hello, may I please speak to Rosalie Hale?"

**2012**

It was my job as the groom's mother to help prepare the bride for her wedding day. Well, that was what Alice had told me was the tradition. And as the bride, I was obliged to follow orders. Plus, I really wanted to help her get ready to marry my only son.

Alice looked absolutely gorgeous. I curled her hair before clipping in the curled extensions to make her hair more voluminous, as Rosalie worked on her makeup. Alice's mother had died when she was only young, so it was Rosalie and I's job to make Alice feel welcome in our family.

Rosalie was living in town with her boyfriend, who just so happened to be Jasper's war friend Emmett McCarty. Emmett was happy to move to town with Rosalie, if it meant that she was able to connect with her only contactable family, which now included Carlisle and me.

I finished with Alice's hair by sliding in a couple of diamante hair pins and giving it a final spray of hair spray, along with a spray of the special glitter hairspray I'd bought especially for the occasion. I tucked the two small fake flowers underneath the pins and secured them in her hair. Rosalie finished her makeup with a final flick of the brush and Alice turned around to face us both. She looked like the definition of gorgeous.

"Alice, you look beautiful. When Jasper first told me about you in his letter, he said to me that he had feelings for you, and I was so happy that he'd finally found a girl that he loved," I said to her, tears welling up in my eyes.

"Thank you so much, Esme. Your blessing has meant the world to us," Alice said, her voice cracking. She looked as if she was about t cry.

"I swear to god Alice, if you cry and ruin your makeup they'll be serving sautéed Alice at the reception," Rosalie threatened. We all laughed and tears were forgotten.

Emmett poked his head in the door.

"Guys? It's time."

**2013**

Both Alice and Jasper were in too much shock to drive, so it was my job to do that while Rosalie sat in the backseat with them and calmed them down whenever Alice had a contraction.

The drive to the hospital was short, and thank god it was because as soon as realisation set in, Jasper was hyperventilating and panicking about Alice.

"Is she going to be okay? She's doubled over and it's hurting her. I can't see her in this kind of pain," he fretted, his voice raising.

"Jasper, it's all going to be fine. You saw what Bella was like when Bailey was born, it's like that for everyone. But it's not exactly helping that Bailey was 9 pounds and 8 ounces," I muttered the last bit under my breath. Bailey had been born almost a year ago, before Alice discovered that she was pregnant. It had put Jasper off having kids, but he couldn't help that now.

We checked into the maternity ward and helped Alice get settled into a bed. Her contractions were still pretty far apart, but close enough together that she'd have to stay in the hospital until it was over.

Edward, Bella, Emmett and Bailey all arrived soon after us, and we sat by Alice's bed and we just talked about random things until Alice's contractions started getting closer together. The only person she wanted in the room was Jasper, so we were all kicked out at that stage.

It was about another hour of sitting in the waiting room, eating stale vending machine peanuts and drinking flat cola until Jasper appeared out of the maternity ward. We all turned our heads expectantly as we saw him break out into a huge smile, tears staining his cheeks.

"I want you to all come and meet Gemma Anne Hale."

_**Ta-da! That's all, and if I get enough reviews and pleads, I might do an actual story or some more one-shots on Jasper, Alice and Gemma's life. So review please!**_


End file.
